Principal Consultant - Social Impact Assessment

ERM’s Social Impact and Human Rights (SIHR) Growth Initiative seeks to incubate social impact (across social performance, land acquisition and resettlement, stakeholder engagement, labor and working conditions, etc.) and respect for human rights as a key offering across our service lines. Our vision is to become the social impact consulting partner of choice, known for high-quality advisory and technical services that are well integrated to the business and sustainability strategies.

The Asia Region has 50+ pureplay social impact practitioners across our markets in South-east Asia, India, China and East Asia.ERM intends to expand the South-east Asia team with senior business development capabilities by hiring for a Principal Consultant role based on the JD presented subsequently. Location preference is Bangkok or Singapore.

Role responsibility:
Join the team, and you will work closely with South-east Asia service line leaders and senior project managers to scale up SIHR services with existing and new clients and exploring the intersection between human rights, climate and the energy transition.

The role has key elements as below:

Business Development: From a business development perspective, the role entails:

• Supporting and/or leading go to market initiatives on SIHR in South-east Asia across identified commercial campaigns.
• Existing and new client outreach to help take social/human rights services to the market either integrated into existing services or as stand-alone.
• Collaborate with Partners and Senior Sellers in the South-east Asia Business Unit as required to support integration of social impact and human rights.  

Technical Leadership: The role entails working with other technical SMEs and multidisciplinary teams to sell and deliver projects and/or programs that:

• Represent medium to large size projects across impact assessments, due diligence or corporate sustainability with a social/human rights focus
• Mainstream social and human rights risk assessments, due diligence and impact assessments
• Embed social/human rights into ESG and sustainability strategies as well as operational management systems.
• Innovate, specifically with respect to ESG data and human rights, to support screening and understanding of social/human rights risks.

From a leadership perspective, the role entails:

• Mentorship of social practitioners within SEA countries
• Active leadership as a seller-doer of SIHR towards multidisciplinary teams to sell and deliver project tasks or components, including proposals
• Raise ERM’s profile in Social Impact and Human Rights through the candidate’s network and in support of marketing initiatives.

The Principal Consultant will also coordinate and/or collaborate with the global SIHR team and technical communities and either lead or be a part of service development and/or capacity building initiatives.

Other requirements of the role will include:

• Being accountable for metrics around directly generated sales and personal utilization
• Remaining up to date with external market and client industry trends.
• Understanding how work of the project team and or practice community contributes to ERM’s success.
• Ability to travel (including limited fieldwork) on a regular basis.
• Establish and develop long-term senior level relationships with clients in South East Asia.

You will learn the challenges our clients face and how ERM’s solution will be able to help them achieve their business goals. You may be required to do some domestic or international travel.

Requirements:

• Master’s degree or PhD in social sciences, sociology, Anthropology or related discipline
• 12+ years of years of experience that shows a track record of boots on the ground exposure to the development sector with a gradual pivot to consulting as well as supporting business development and client servicing
• Practical knowledge and understanding of quantitative analysis tools and techniques and their application for social data management
• Serving a portfolio of leading clients across finance, diversified energy, general manufacturing of a multinational stature
• Previous experience of working with multidisciplinary teams on a consulting environment and managing large/complex projects across social impact and human rights
• Functional knowledge of international social and human rights standards, including IFC/WB, UNGPs etc.
• Excellent report writing skills. Fluency in both written and spoken English is a fundamental requirement along with knowledge of either Bahasa or Malay or Chinese, which would be an advantage.
• Well-developed team leadership and influencing skills; unquestioned integrity; and the experience, confidence, and stature to effectively address client and business needs and challenges.
• Excellent report writing skills. Fluency in both written and spoken English.

APAC Ready to Lead Way

At ERM, your work creates impact that matters, helping global organizations tackle the most pressing sustainability challenges while shaping a better future for communities and the environment. Our vision is to empower you to grow, lead, and innovate alongside world-class clients on transformative projects. We prioritize wellbeing, continuous learning, and an inclusive culture where collaboration, expertise, and purpose drive meaningful impact. At ERM, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and innovation thrives. If you’re ready to make sustainability your mission and build a career that creates lasting change, your journey starts here

You can apply for this role through Careers or through the internal careers portal if you are a current employee. 

Discover Life at ERM
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